Planet formation within and around binary stars

Speaker

Talk Date

Talk Series

Roman Rafikov

28 July 2014

Across HR 2014 Talks

Abstract

Planets are known to be able form in hostile environments. Their formation in binary stellar systems, either in a circumstellar or circumbinary configuration, is significantly hampered by enhanced dynamical excitation of planetesimals driven by the companion gravity. This is thought to lead to the destruction, rather than growth of planetesimals and makes emergence of cores, leading to giant planet formation, problematic. Yet, we know more than a dozen of planetary systems either in circumbinary configurations or within tight (<20 AU) binaries. I will address recent advances in understanding the processes affecting planet formation in binaries and show that the gravity of the gaseous protoplanetary disk plays important role in establishing the dynamical state of planetesimal disk. I will demonstrate that disks with high mass (>1% M_Sun) and low eccentricity (e<0.01) provide conditions favorable for planet formation even in the very extreme environments of tight binaries.